Multiheaded mallets



, sept. 9, 1969 A, A. MALDACKER 3,465,695`

MuLTIHEADEn MALLETS Filed April 22, 1964 INVENTOR. ANTA/ AMALDACKERUnited States Patent O 3,465,635 MULTIHEADED MALLETS Antal A. Maldacker,102 Balmoral Ave., Toronto 7, Ontario, Canada Filed Apr. 22, 1964, ser.No. 361,664 Claims priority, application Canada, Apr. 25, 1963, 874,045Int. Cl. Gd 13/00 U.S. Cl. 84-422 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Amallet arrangement for percussion instruments having a plurality ofheads of which at least one is rigidly Xed, the remaining heads beingmovable by selective operation of members afxed to the handle portion ofthe mallet.

This invention relates to multiheaded mallets some heads of which aremovable in relation to the others, and used with different types ofmusical instruments.

It is a well known fact that the sounding elements of the percussioninstruments are arranged like the keys of the standard keyboard of thepiano. The majority of such instruments are tted out with twelvesounding elements per octave, corresponding to the notes used in themusic of the western civilization. These sounding elements, if arrangedaccording to the pitch, have half musical intervals throughout the wholerange of notes. But, unfortunately, the sounding elements are placedaccording to the C major scale, that is with unevenly distributedmusical intervals. The most important consequence of said arrangement isthat for every type of chord a different mallet with the proper spacingof the heads should be used, and since they should be many times andquickly changed during the performance of a musical selection thetechnique of playing would be impractical, in fact inconceivable.

The mallets used so far have thus in the majority of cases only singleheads, and using two mallets of this kind merely a tune having no morethan two notes in the same instant can be played. This is the reasonthat the Xylophone-like instruments are not very popular: theimpossibility to play chords makes them inferior to most of othermusical instruments.

I found that if the mallets are provided with more than one head, andsome of them are movable in respect to the others, chords can be played,since only simple movements of the lingers are required to control thelevers which position the heads of the mallet.

The mallet of the invention is of a T-form with the upper part servingas the base of the heads, and the stem as the handle of the mallet. Thenumber of heads, according to this invention, can vary, the mostpractical being three heads. The positioning of the heads during theperformance of a musical selection will be carried out by a combinationof levers, springs, pulleys, shafts etc. In the following description Iwill set forth the construction and use of two embodiments of theinvented mallet, one with three heads and one with iive heads. They areexamples of typical solutions of moving the heads into the desiredpositions.

Other features and advantages of this invention will appear from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross section of the same along the line A--A;

FIG. 3 is a portion of the handle of the same showing the configurationof the operating levers;

3,465,635 Patented Sept. 9, 1969 FIG. 4 is a plan view of a secondembodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 5a and 5b are partial cross-sections of the second embodimentalong the line B--B;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of one of the control sledges of thesecond embodiment along the line C-C.

The mallet of FIG. 1 has three heads, the two outer heads being -movablealong a half circle into a position a half step to the right whereas themiddle head is Xed in relation to the body of the mallet.

The mallet illustrated in FIGS. l, 2 and 3 comprises a handle 1, andcrossbar 1 equipped with three heads 2, 3 and 4. The heads 3 and 4 areeccentrically mounted on shafts 7 and 8, respectively, by means of stems5 and 6. In the normal position head 3 is two whole-steps, head 4 oneand one half steps apart from the fixed head. When used in thisposition, called the normal position, the mallet will strike a majortriad (2-11/2 intervals).

The heads 3 and 4 can be moved separately or simultaneously a half stepto the right, forming a diminished, an augmented or minor triadrespectively (11/z-11/2, 2 2, or 11/2-2 intervals). The moving of theheads from the normal position to a new one is accomplished by pulleys13, 14, 17 and 18 which are turned by strings 15 and 16. Since theconstruction and function of both sides of the mallet is identical Iwill describe the operation of the left side. String 15 is wound overpulley 13 which is irmly attached to the hollow shaft 11. Shaft 11 isturnable on the handle portion 1 yand is actuated by the operatingmember 10 which is firmly attached to it. The operating member 9, whichbelongs to the system of the other movable head 4, protrudes over theoperating member 10 and stays normally in the same plane as member 10.In order to operate the mallet the player holds the handle iirmly in thehand and does not touch the cranks when playing major chords. To playother chords (minor, diminished or augmented triads as well as doublenotes of different intervals) he pushes, with his thumb, the member 9 or10 or both, as the case may be. The arrangement of the operating members9 and 10 makes the operation somewhat easy to carry out since the thumbfirst touches the proper member or both of them together and then pushesit or them. When the members 9 and 10 are released the springs 19 and 20will return the heads 3 and 4 to their normal position.

The mallet o-f FIG. 4 has five heads 22-26, the middle one 22 beingfixed, the others 23-26 movable in planes perpendicular to the planeformed by the crossbar 21 and the handle 39.

The heads 23 and 24 form a set of heads at the left side, heads 25 and26 a set at the right side of the mallet. One head of each of said setsis at any given moment in said plane formed by the crossbar 21 and thehandle 39, the other head of each of said sets is above the same. Themovable heads 23-26 are each attached, through stem 35, to a leverhaving two arms 27 and 30. The lever is pivotally mounted on asupporting shaft 28 attached t0 the crossbar 21. The stems 35 aremounted on one arm 27 of the two-armed lever, the other arm 30 beingforced by springs 31 to be in steady contact with the contoured slides29a and 29b (FIGS. 5a, 5b). The contoured slides are movable in groovesprovided in the crossbar 21 (see FIG. 6) and are operated by actuatinglevers 34 and 35 pivotally mounted on the handle portion 39. Theactuating levers 34 and 35 are connected to contoured slides 29a and29h, respectively, and are operated by two operating members 32 and 33mounted in a groove in the handle portion 39. When pressure is appliedto the operating members the contoured slides 29a and 29h willcorrespondingly be moved in the groove of said crossbar thereby causingmovement of the heads 23-26. When the pressure on the operating members32 and 33 is released the lCC springs 36 and 37 pull back the actuatinglevers 34 and 35 thereby returning the heads 23-26 to their normalposition.

In the normal position arms 30 of the movable heads 23 and 25 areresting on the ridges 38 and 38' of the contoured slides 29a and 2911 asshown in FIGS. 5a and 5 b; the respective heads as well as the fixedhead are then in the plane formed by the crossbar 21 and the handle 39and the distance between them is 2 and 11/2 steps, corresponding to theintervals of the major triad. In order to get other combinations thecontoured slides 29a and 2919 have to be moved beneath the arms 30lifting or lowering the respective heads by means of the operatingmembers 32 and 33, as fully explained hereinabove.

Both embodiments of the invented mallet are supposed to be used by theleft hand, which plays the accompaniment written mostly in double notesand chords. The right hand plays the melody composed normally of singleor double notes. Playing the melody needs thus a mallet of only twoheads to strike one bar or two bars of a minor or major triad andmallets of this type are known in the art.

Mallets with three heads may be used by the right hand but the levers ofthem must be rearranged in such a manner as to become the mirror imageof the left hand mallets described herein.

It will be realized that whereas I have described and illustratedpractical and operative devices, nevertheless many changes may be madein the size, shape, number and disposition of parts.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A mallet arrangement for percussion instruments comprising: a handleportion; a crossbar aixed to said handle portion; a plurality of headsmounted on said crossbar, at least one of said heads being fixed, theremaining heads of said plurality being movably mounted; and means foroperating said movable heads whereby a player controls the relativedistance between said heads and thereby the musical intervals.

2. The arrangement of claim 2 wherein said crossbar has three headsmounted thereon, each of said heads having stem means, said heads beingarranged in a line parallel to said crossbar with the middle head ofsaid three being fixedly mounted, the outer heads being movably mountedto a plurality of selected positions; and wherein said operating meanscomprises a shaft means eccentrically attached at one end to said stemmeans of each of said movable heads; pulley means attached to the outerend of said shaft means; biasing means operatively connected to saidpulley means; and operating members engageable by the finger of aperformer, mounted on said handle portion and operatively connected tosaid pulley means for controlling the position of said outer heads; saidbiasing means returning said outer heads to one of said selectedpositions when said operating members are released.

3. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein said crossbar has five headsmounted thereon, each of said heads having stem means, said heads beingarranged in a line parallel to said crossbar with the middle head ofsaid five being fixedly mounted, the remaining heads of said tive beingmovably mounted in a plane perpendicular to the plane of said mallet,there being a rst set of two heads mounted on the left side of saidcrossbar and a second set of two heads mounted on the right side of saidcrossbar; and wherein said operating means comprises: a pair of mainlevers; a pair of contoured slides; secondary lever means attached toeach of said movable heads; a first biasing means cooperating with saidmain levers; a second biasing means cooperating with said secondarylever means; each of said main levers being in contact with a contouredslide which controls the movement of said secondary lever means and inturn said movable heads; whereby a performer may raise one head of eachset of said movable heads above the plane of said crossbar by applyingpressure to said main levers; said first and second biasing means actingto restore said main levers and secondary lever means to a positionwherein all of said heads are in the same plane.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 474,242 5/ 1892 Hafner 84-478706,002 8/1902 Allen 84-478 770,864 9/ 1904 Kolander 84-478 996,9357/1911 MacMaster 84480 1,696,901 1/ 1929 Bostelman 84-478 2,020,15011/1935 Ludwig 84-403 2,085,363 6/1937 Hultsch 84-403 2,117,345 5/1938Miessner 84-403 2,133,712 10/1938 Musser 84-403 2,284,868 6/ 1942 Heaney84-478 2,943,527 7/ 1960 Hanert 84-403 775,813 Forander 84-422 1,761,2456/1930 Vitto 84-422 1,876,870 9/1932 Dollhoff 84-422 2,791,930 5/ 1957Soderberg 84-422 2,905,043 9/ 1959 Soderberg 84-404 X RICHARD B.WILKINSON, Primary Examiner S. A. WAL, Assistant Examiner

